The invention relates to a data monitoring method for preventing copy-inhibited documents and image data from the unauthorized copying, and a device thereof.
In these days, it has become easy for respective devices connected with the network to obtain and print electronic data, as the network and the digitalization develop wide. Meanwhile, the desktop Publishing (DTP), of which the technology has been improved in order to produce images close to original data, can get copies more precise than ever. Thereby the infrastructure that enables a user to obtain electronic data and print them precisely is now consolidating.
On the other hand, the leak of secrecy regarding a document under the secrecy management gets into trouble in case where said document is copied. In addition, if it is easy to obtain copies that cannot be distinguished from the original, it is afraid that such method is utilized to the illegal use of copyright or the forgery of bank notes and securities. The damages in such cases will be enormous.
The conventional color copying machine has installed the function of preventing bank notes and etc. from the forgery. FIG. 18 shows a block diagram of the conventional color copying machine. In FIG. 18, image signals read from a scanner 110 are judged according to the image characteristics by a specific image judging means 120 to be that of the bank notes and the securities being an object of the copying inhibition. In case of that of the copy inhibition, it is arranged that the copy prevention function be activated so that the images may be reproduced after the converting to a thumbnail image or the reverse to a mirrored image. The image data thus processed in such a way may be outputted to a printer 130, so that the copied images can be easily distinguished as a forgery thing (for example, like an image processor disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Publication Nos. 01-316783, 11-275352, and 11-355562).
As the current trend, the number of documents and images, that are sent or received as paper documents or as electronic data, gets very large. There is a subject that a personal computer obtains secrecy electronic documents and copyright data in a simple way through network and then a high-speed printer copies the data illegally.
By the way, since the prescribed prior arts refers to the method for judging images of originals read by the scanner, it is not possible to deal with the prescribed subject regarding the electronic data that are not read by the scanner.
Besides, the prescribed prior arts have great influences over the society since it is very easy to forgery bank notes and etc., meanwhile it is possible only to inhibit the copying within the restricted limits. But, even in a specific business place, for example, there are various electronic data to be observed secret, and it is general that the contents of data are not constant for many hours but changeable along with the time elapsed.
However, it is hard for the prescribed prior arts to update the copy inhibition information at any time according to the environments.
Moreover, as electronic data gets to replace paper documents as described above, the number of specific secrecy documents stored in a server has increased in the business place. In addition, it becomes possible for unspecified persons to display such secrecy documents on a display as a printed matter, and then to copy and browse the documents. There are persons given an authorization to copy or browse these secrecy documents, while there are those not given. The restriction of the regulation varies depending on the kind of document. That is to say, there is a level of the secrecy management that is imparted to a document, and a specific person has to be allowed to copy and browse a document only when a management level given to a specific person is higher than the management level included in the documents. However, even the conventional prior arts cannot administrate the copying and the browsing in due consideration of the secrecy management level of electronic data.
The present invention is suggested to settle the above problems, and has an object to provide a data monitoring method and system that can prevent copy-inhibited data from the unauthorized copying beforehand and speedy.
The invention has another object to provide a data monitoring method and system that can freely update copy inhibition information referring to the inhibition of the browsing and the copying according to the environment.
In addition, the present invention has the other object to provide a data monitoring method and system that can freely select either the allowance or the inhibition of the copying according to the secrecy management level of electronic data.
The invention adopts the following means in order to achieve the above objects. Specifically, monitoring means monitors each copy element of monitoring object data consisting of at least one kind of copy element in accordance with at least one kind of copy inhibition information capable of being updated and stored in inhibition information storage. Inhibiting means inhibits input or output of monitoring object data if the monitoring means determines that each copy element of the data agrees with a kind of the copy inhibition information. Therefore, it is possible to inhibit the copying and browsing of monitoring object data such as printing data and so on that agree with the copy inhibition information.
The above mentioned copy inhibition information can be updated by means of updating means. The updating is preferable to be executed by a user having a right to update. Additionally, the updating can be executed by obtaining new inhibition information from a removable storage medium or passing through the network.
On the assumption that the log of the updating of the copy inhibition information is stored in storage means, and it is arranged that, in updating the copy inhibition information, the updating be executed only when the updating information of the copy inhibition information is later than the stored log information.
On the assumption that secrecy management information corresponding to each copy inhibition information is stored in advance in inhibition information storage together with the copy inhibition information, and it is arranged that the copy inhibition and the inhibition cancel be controlled in accordance with the secrecy management information and the user""s secrecy management level. Thereby, it is possible to inactivate the function, if it is not necessary, to inhibit the copying and the browsing.
Since the copy inhibition information is concentrated and stored in a server device (master information storage) on the network, each device executing the copy inhibition processing can obtain the copy inhibition information simply by accessing said server. In this case, the copy inhibition information may be transferred from the server device to each device passing through a removal storage medium, or may be transmitted via network. It is possible to store in the server device secrecy management information corresponding to each of copy inhibition information in addition to the copy inhibition information.
The invention can inhibit the copying of printing data or browsing data as described above, and moreover can trace a device preparing a copied printed matter. That is to say, first specific information extracting means extracts ID information unique to a specific device concerned with the preparation of monitoring object data, and information imparting means imparts the ID information to the monitoring object data, thereby new copied data is prepared.
The ID information may be chip ID information imparted to Central Processing Unit (CPU), an IP address imparted to a device, or the like.
In addition, second specific information extracting means extracts specific application information unique to software concerned with the preparation of monitoring object data, and information imparting means imparts the specific application information to the monitoring object data, thereby new copied data is prepared. It is effective that a mail address registered by a user is used as the specific application information.
A copying device, which receives monitoring object data from an external device and prepares a copy based on the monitoring object data, can trace the copy as follows. That is to say, extracting means analyses the monitoring object data and extracts unique information specifying a specific device concerned with the preparation of the monitoring object data, and then specific information imparting means imparts the extracted unique information to the monitoring object data.
It is helpful that ID number specifying a personal computer, or an IP address imparted to a device is used as the unique information.
Moreover, it may be arranged that extracting means analyze the copied data and extracts unique information specifying software concerned with the copied data, and specific information imparting means imparts to a copy the extracted unique information as new copied data.